Quote:
Originally Posted by RVGRINGO
Yes, you must remove the car from Mexico eventually unless you manage to nationalize it, a difficult and rather expensive process, which the government seems to be curtailing.
When you bring your car to Mexico, you do so on an 'Importada Temporal' (Temporary Importation) and you have signed and posted a bond with your credit card guaranteeing that you will remove the vehicle from Mexico whenever your immigration status ends. You may not ever sell that vehicle in Mexico; not even for parts if you wreck it. Should you do so illegally, and should the car ever be used in a crime, cause damage or kill someone, you would be traced through the VIN and remain responsible; even though it might have been sold ten times over. Mexican jails and prisons aren't nice. In fact, if your car is stolen you will still face those same problems and cannot ever bring a replacement into Mexico. That's the way it is and that's what you agree to when you bring your car to Mexico and sign on the dotted line..................
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Some clarification: As posted previously, my car was stolen in Mexico and found a couple of days later, damaged beyond repair. My Mexican insurance company eventually, (7 months later), settled on a "write-off" value, but would offer no assistance with the question of what to do about the temporary import permit under which the vehicle had entered Mexico....it was my responsibility.
Fortunately, I had all documentation, including photos. After 18 months and three letters to Mexican Customs in Mexico City, I eventually was issued a cancellation of the import permit.
Hopefully, when we go back to Mexico in November (with another vehicle, obviously), we won't have any problems.
Note that we did try to enter Mexico with our "new" vehicle about a year after the 1st one was stolen....and before I had straightened out the original problem....and the computer "caught me": I could not import another vehicle because the computer said I still had that 1st one in Mexico. Fortunately, our vehicles are always registered in both mine and my wife's name, so we were allowed to bring that 2nd vehicle into Mexico under her name.